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You have just received the first issue of the new online ESCMID newsletter. Its purpose is to reach out beyond the regular ESCMID membership and to inform the growing community of clinical microbiologists and infectious disease specialists accurately and quickly about relevant issues in these professional fields. The first issue of ESCMID Online News is a pilot which will hopefully meet the many challenges. The email should not only be properly presented by different operation systems, browsers and email clients but it should also be invisible to spam filters. Should you encounter technical problems of any kind please let us know. In this case ESCMID Online News can also be downloaded from the ESCMID website (www.escmid.org, Publications) where previous issues will be archived and made available to the interested public. Who will receive ESCMID Online News and how is it distributed? The electronic newsletter is sent to all regular ESCMID members and to the members of affiliated societies through the headquarters of their parent societies. Affiliated societies have signed an affiliation agreement with ESCMID and are listed as members of the ESCMID European Council. How often does ESCMID Online News appear and what is its content? The new electronic newsletter will appear initially at least 3 times per year in January, May and September usually soon after the printed ESCMID News has been sent to the regular ESCMID members. At a later stage it is planned to be produced as often as the need arises. ESCMID Online News will, to a certain extent, be an abridged version of ESCMID News. Since online information has a different quality and serves a different purpose than a printed magazine we anticipate that ESCMID Online News will soon develop into a communication forum in its own right. Who produces ESCMID Online News and bears the editorial responsibility? Both newsletters, the electronic and the printed versions, are produced by the same team consisting of Dianne White, ESCMID Publication Assistant, Peter Schoch, ESCMID Managing Director and Marc Struelens, Past President and Chair of the Publication Committee. We hope that you like this new information channel. Please be assured that your contributions to the ESCMID newsletters are highly welcome. Please direct them to info@escmid.org ESCMID News Editorial Team ESCMID Executive CommitteeResults of the Election 2005 Elections were held in accordance with the Statutes and Bylaws. The selection of candidates was the responsibility of the Nomination Committee chaired by the past President. It was based on professional, personal and geographical criteria to ensure a well-balanced and competent Executive Committee. A total of 2485 ballots were mailed to all members in good standing as of end of September 2004; 960 ballots were returned by 15 January 2005. Elected were by simple majority: - Giuseppe Cornaglia (532 votes, re-election) The Executive congratulated the elected members on their office and also thanked the other candidates who made this democratic election possible. Peter Schoch, ESCMID Managing Director UEMS and the specialty of Infectious Diseases in EuropeThe UEMS (Union Européenne des Medicins Specialistes) was founded in 1954 by the professional organisations of medical specialists in the European Community member and associated countries. It acts as a lobby organisation to the European Commission and its main interest is to work for a consistent standard of quality of training of medical specialists and in the quality of continuing medical education/continuing professional development (CME/CPD) in all countries in Europe. The aim is that as freedom of movement of professionals between the EU member countries increases, there will be confidence that a specialist recognised in one country will have the competence required from a specialist in a receiving country. The UEMS has a central office located in Brussels close to the European Commission. Information about UEMS and documents pertaining to its activities can be found on the UEMS home page www.uems.net. Within the UEMS there are at present 37 monospecialist Sections and 4 multidisciplinary joint committees (Intensive Care, Pediatric Urology, Hand Surgery and Pain Medicine). The National Medical Associations of 28 countries in Europe are full members of the UEMS and 4 are associated members (Tables 1 and 2). After nomination by the National Specialist Society and acknowledgment by the UEMS, each National Association is requested to send two delegates to each monospecialist Section. These Sections can appoint observers to the Section if, for instance, the specialty is not officially recognised in a European country. This is the case with Infectious Diseases in some countries where the specialty does have extensive clinical activity. Table 1 shows the official status of the specialty of Infectious Diseases in the European countries and also shows which countries are represented in the Section, either as full members or as observers. In addition, the major scientific society, the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, ESCMID, has been granted observer status. The Section for Infectious Diseases was constituted in March 1997. Its first President was Barbara Bannister from the UK who was succeeded in 1999 by Daniel Lew from Switzerland. In 2001 the position was passed to Ingrid Nilsson-Ehle from Sweden and she was succeeded in September 2004 by Mike McKendrick from the UK. Section secretaries have been Ingrid Nilsson-Ehle (1997-2000), Håkon Sjursen, Norway (2000-2003) and the present secretary is Winfried Kern, Germany. The Section has appointed a European Board of Infectious Diseases (EBID). The Board is the executive branch of the Section where most of the actual work regarding the development of specialist training and CME/CPD is performed. Its first President was Mike McKendrick, who has been succeeded by the current EBID President, Mary Horgan from Ireland. EBID has produced several documents delineating the Section´s views on specialist training and CME/CPD which have been approved by the Section during their annual meetings. These documents can be found on the Section´s home page www.uemsinfect.org: - a European Charter for Specialist Training in Infectious Diseases The charter for specialist training and the CME guidelines represent the consensus opinion of the members and observers to the Section for Infectious Diseases on the content and quality assurance of specialist training and CME in the specialty. The purpose is to define the minimum education level for European infectious disease professionals and, hopefully, these documents are of value for the member countries when setting up their own training programs. The documents have no legal standing; the responsibility for national systems for training of specialists and for developing systems for CME/CPD lies firmly under the jurisdiction of national authorities. By working within the UEMS, the Section hopes to facilitate and harmonise the training of infectious disease specialists to an adequate and consistent standard with regard to content and quality and thus to ensure the good quality of care of patients with infectious diseases in a Europe where movement of specialists between countries becomes more common. CME/CPD is an important issue with the increasing awareness that doctors must update their competence as the field of medicine expands. Most countries which do not at present have a system for CME/CPD are now working to implement such a system. The UEMS has developed a central organisation for the accreditation of educational activities by constituting the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME). This institution, however, cannot evaluate the scientific and educational contents of an event, only validate and grant the official number of European credits after professional evaluation has been performed. To evaluate the scientific and educational value of educational events an organisation consisting of professionals within the specialty is needed. In countries where there is a national body set up for such evaluations, the event organiser can have the event evaluated by this body, especially for national CME activities. However, to facilitate European recognition for CME instructional activities and to obtain European accreditation in countries where there is no national CME authority, there is a need for a European organisation to do the evaluation. The UEMS Section for Infectious Diseases has, by actively collaborating with ESCMID, developed a system for accreditation of educational events at the European level. This work is done by the European Board for Accreditation in Infectious Diseases (EBAID) which consists of members of the Section and representatives from the ESCMID Executive Committee (Peter Schoch, Managing Director and Ragnar Norrby, Professional Affairs Officer for Infectious Diseases and current President-elect of ESCMID). EBAID is chaired by Finn T. Black from Denmark. Information about the accreditation process and forms for application for European credits for educational events can be found on the EBAID website www.ebaid.org. The Section for Infectious Diseases and the UEMS Commission for Microbiology (subsection within the UEMS Section for Medical Biopathology) have initiated collaborative work. It is recognised that there are areas of mutual interest with regard to specialist training and CME. Dr Edmund Smyth, convener of the Commission for Microbiology, attended the annual meeting of the Section for Infectious Diseases in September 2004 and it was agreed to investigate areas of common interest. The Section and the Commission will have cross-representation at future meetings. Some countries are not represented in the UEMS Section for Infectious Diseases
despite efforts from officers of the Section to establish contact with national
societies in all countries. The Section would be very pleased to welcome more
countries to participate in the work of the Section. For additional information
please contact the Section secretary, Winfried Kern Ingrid Nilsson-Ehle, Past President, UEMS Section for Infectious Diseases Mike McKendrick, President, UEMS Section for Infectious Diseases Winfried Kern, Secretary, UEMS Section for Infectious Diseases Mary Horgan, President, EBID Finn T. Black, President, EBAID National Medical Associations which are full UEMS members
National Medical Associations which are associated UEMS members
GlaxoSmithKline Donates Bacterial Isolate Collection
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